And Simon said: “If, then, God is the
cause only of what is good, what else can we think than that some other
principle begot the evil one;14271427
“Evil” is not in the mss. It is inserted from the next
sentence. or is evil
unbegotten?” And Peter said: “No other power
begot the wicked one, nor is evil unbegotten, as I shall show in the
conclusion; for now my object is to prove, as I promised in the
commencement, that God is blameless in every14281428
“Every” is inserted by a conjecture of
Schwegler’s. respect. We have granted, then,
that God possesses in an incomparable way the better attributes that
belong to men. Wherefore also it is possible for Him to have been
the producer of the four substances,—heat, I mean, and cold,
moist and dry. These, as being at first simple and unmixed, were
naturally indifferent in their desire;14291429 Lit.,
“naturally had their desire towards neither.”
but being produced by God, and mixed externally, they would naturally
become a living being, possessing the free choice to destroy those who
are evil. And thus, since all things have been begotten from Him,
the wicked one is from no other source. Nor has he derived his
evil from the God who has created all things (with whom it is
impossible that evil should exist), because the substances were
produced by Him in a state of indifference, and carefully separated
from each other; and when they were externally blended through his art,
there arose through volition the desire for the destruction of the evil
ones. But the good cannot be destroyed by the evil that arose,
even though it should wish to do so: for it exercises its power
only14301430 The
mss. have “by law.” We have
changed νόμῳ into μόνον. against those who sin. Ignorant,
then, of the character of each,14311431 The devil is
plainly meant by the “he.” he makes
his attempt against him, and convicting him, he punishes
him.” And Simon said: “God being able to mingle
the elements, and to make His mixtures so as to produce any
dispositions that He may wish, why did He not make the composition of
each such as that it would prefer what is
good?”